Crystal and Brimstone
by FaeNocturne
Summary: While Kurt is mourning Amanda's moving away, a strange new character arrives at the mansion. Who is she, and where does she come from? The XMen don't yet know, although the teachers do....chapter 4 is up so far! And I'm not very good at summaries....
1. Chapter 1: In Which A New Student Comes

Disclaimer: No, as much as it pains me to say it, I do not own X-Men: Evolution, not even the lovely and adorable Nightcrawler. However, Maya and everything about her is mine. If she is related to another character you've read about in any way, it is simply coincidence, unless that person is copying me. Speaking of which, please, don't steal my charries. I don't have many, and the ones that I have are (in my opinion) quality. I worked hard to develop them, so don't take credit for my work.

Yes, that was much more than a disclaimer, but I really don't care. I will do my best to update regularly, or at least as soon as I can. Oh, and by the way, I like reviews that tell me what to work on, constructive criticism is okay, but please, no anonymous flames. It's quite rude, you know.

UPDATE: Just letting everybody know that I have indeed changed parts of the story. I have toned down Maya's powers as they were truthfully much too powerful and such. I had intended on having her lose the majority of them later, but...it works better this way. I'm also hoping to change my grammatical errors as well.

Ch. 1: In Which An Unusual Student Arrives At the Mansion

Kurt Wagner was sitting in his room, poring over a large book, an unusual thing for the energetic, fuzzy elf to be doing. It was no ordinary book that he was staring wistfully at, however, but a photo album. To be more precise, a photo album filled with photos of him and Amanda. Kurt sighed sadly as he looked at the pictures of Amanda. It had been a week since he had last seen her, since that sad meeting. That was when she had informed him that her parents had somehow found out that she was still seeing Kurt, and that she was being sent to live with her Aunt Vivian in France for a while, although her parents claimed it was to 'broaden her horizons'. They also realized that, although they loved each other with the passions of teenagers, their love couldn't cross an ocean. It simply wasn't strong enough. They promised to write, and told each other it was okay to see other people.

Ever since that evening, Kurt just hadn't been the same irritating blue fur ball as he had been before. Even Bobby, one of the most insensitive of the X-men, noticed that something was wrong. They all tried to make him feel better, but some of the X-men hadn't ever felt the love that he felt for Amanda, and those that did had never been separated for good, or at least what promised to be a long time.

Sighing, Kurt put away the photo album and just stared at the ceiling, simply wondering why Toad had decided to become Wanda's knight in shining armor on the night of his meeting with Amanda's parents. So lost in his own thoughts was the blue (pun intended) teen that it took Professor Xavier three times to get his attention, speaking to his mind.

_KURT!!_

But the third time most definitely woke Kurt up from his daydreams. "Was?" He asked wildly, jumping off of his bed and looking around frantically.

_Kurt, calm down, please. Have you forgotten that I can speak to you mentally? I'm sorry to have disturbed you from your sulking, but everyone else is already down in the Meeting Room. We have a new student and before Beast brings her back in the Jet, I have a few things to say to everybody. Would you mind coming down?_

The furry blue elf quickly teleported downstairs, then went into the Meeting Room normally. "I was not sulking," he muttered to himself quietly, although he didn't do a very good job of convincing himself. Professor Xavier waited for the students to quiet down before beginning, his fingers intertwined and his elbows resting on the arms of his wheelchair.

"As I have already told you, a new student is coming to the school. However, I would not have called you together if it was a normal student. This student is very different than some of the other students who have come here. I won't go into details, but she is suffering from the loss of someone close to her, besides the fact that she seems to not feel very social at the moment.

I know that you are only human, even if you are mutants, and all I ask is that you try and be friendly to her. Also, for the psychics here, please don't try to talk to her mentally, skim her mind for information, or do anything involving her mind and her powers. I also ask that you try not to provoke any fights, although you know that already. Now, I see that Beast has landed, with our visitor. Why don't I tell Beast to take her to this room first and you introduce yourselves."

The students had all seemed fine with this, and resumed talking with one another. The Professor smiled, satisfied at the result of his speech. Then, someone knocked on the door to the Meeting Room. The voices dropped down to a murmur as the Professor called, "Come in," to the new student and Beast. New students were a normal occurrence, but the Professor seemed to be more concerned, or rather protective, of this one.

The door slowly opened, and in walked…….

Beast. Then, the teacher looked at the disappointed faces and said, "No, I'm not the new student." He beckoned to someone who was beyond the view of the doorframe, and in walked a young woman. She walked stiffly, but with grace. She was tall for her estimated age and what many people would have considered beautiful. Her skin was a copper, Native-American color, with a tall, lithe frame. Her hair was what a more poetic person would have described as 'raven's wing tresses'; straight and glossy black in color, falling to her waist. She was slender, although not overly skinny, and although she wasn't about to be mistaken for a boy, 'angular' best described her looks. She had eyes with irises of vibrant violet, and they had a hard look to them, although if one looked hard enough, they could see a hint of something--what, it was hard to tell--behind the seemingly emotionless facade. Her face had no expression in its eyes like amethysts, accompanied by an elegant, although not overly large, nose and a full mouth. She wore no make-up, and no jewelry that was visible, for her ears were covered by her hair.

Her outfit was slightly odd, just as she seemed. She wore a plain silver t-shirt that hugged her frame slightly, as well as a pair of plain blue jeans and a pair of bright lavender Chuck Taylors.

Everyone just stared for a few minutes before the Professor cleared his throat.

"Hello, young woman. You already know me. I am Professor Xavier, also known as Professor X or the Professor. Why don't the rest of you introduce yourselves? Alphabetical order by first name would probably work."

In a few seconds, the students had lined up, telling the girl of their names, and then their powers. Some of the more dramatic members, such as Bobby, gave the girl an example of their powers. Finally, they stood looking at her, and she seemed to realize what they expected of her.

"My name is Maya," She said clearly, her voice cold and hard, before she walked out of the room, picking up the purple backpack that she had left by the door on her way out. The Professor sighed, muttering to himself before looking to the rest of the students.

"Scott, please find our new student and show her to her room. I believe that I told it to you already, correct?"

Scott nodded to the Professor and headed out of the room. The Professor then continued.

"The rest of you can go about your daily activities. Beast, Storm, and Wolverine, I would like to have a word with you three privately."

The students began talking again as they left the room, most likely about the new student, although Professor X couldn't be sure. Finally, when only the three teachers remained, Professor X looked at them.

"Maya is more powerful than even she realizes. I thought that you should know more about her as her instructors."

"Maya was on the streets for a time that I haven't been able to figure out, but she was happy with her twin, Fey. Fey was similar to her, in mind, their body's structures, and many other things. In fact, the only thing different about the girls was their appearance. Maya is slightly over 18 years old. I managed to find out from her that on the night of their 18th birthday, Fey was attacked and killed. She won't tell me who killed her twin, but I believe that it was someone that she knew."

"As to the matter of her powers…I'm not joking when I say that, in raw power of her abilities, she is equal to Magneto and perhaps myself. But she lacks the control that we have—at least when she's angry. She is a mutant with the powers of a faerie, or at least, with wings and antennae that she can 'melt' into her body at will. Her other power, instead of being a simple one, like just water or fire, is the ability to summon and control crystal matter.

"Storm, Maya will be joining your after school class on power control. I've had her take a few tests, with some rather intriguing results. She will take summer classes for now, as she hasn't had much formal education. The mansion will be busy enough that she will find something to do, and hopefully she will learn to open up and find a few friends."

Professor Xavier looked at them, waiting for their responses.

"Of course, Professor," Storm answered before heading upstairs to begin planning tomorrow's power control lesson.

Wolverine simply nodded and strode out of the room, while Beast said, "We shall do our best," and headed out as well.

The Professor sighed. He knew that it was going to be an even more interesting year now that she was here.


	2. Chapter 2: Strange Ways

Disclaimer: NO, I don't own X-Men: Evolution and any of those characters. Why do I have to keep posting it to remind myself when living in my own little world is so nice? Oh, and by the way, Maya, her history, and her background, and all characters that I made to suit her purposes are mine. I didn't steal them from anyone, please don't steal them from me, and trust me, if you find another character similar to mine, someone stole my character or it is just coincidence.

Now, as for the subject of reviews: I WANT REVIEWS! I don't mind criticism, but please, no anonymous flames, and I really do want to know what people think of it.

Oh yes, and many thanks to Rakero-Chan (that is her fanfiction name), who is one of my bestest (I know it isn't a word, and I don't care) friends, who introduced me to this site and is as crazy about X-men as I am. That, and she gave me good advice.

Oh, by the way: Yes, I am an infatuated Kurt fangirl. Deal with it, please!

Wait, one more note--AGAIN! I will somewhat Germanize Kurt at times when he is upset, scared, or startled. That means changing 'what' to 'was' (pronounced 'vas'), 'yes' to 'ja' (pronounced 'yah'), and so on and so forth.

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Chapter 2: Strange Ways

It had been a month since Maya, the teenage girl, had joined the X-Men, and already they were experiencing some problems. For one thing, no matter how friendly the students (and I should take this point to mention that most of the graduated students chose to take college from the Professor finding out information about things and teaching them or a correspondence college) were, Maya was the same as she always was: polite, but distanced and cold. Eventually, the students got to complaining about it, and making fun of her, although no one knew if she even noticed or not, from the way that she acted.

The second problem was that she couldn't keep a roommate. She had been through about eight other girls as roommates already, and they had all asked for a change in rooms after about half a week. Some lasted longer than others, but none ever lasted for long. According to them, Maya didn't talk to them unless she was practically forced to. She locked her roommate out of the room at times, and even if they closed the windows late at night, they were open in the morning.

Eventually, Professor Xavier found it easier to just let her have her own room, since none of the other girls would room with her. He wondered about the windows, but didn't ask. He did, however, keep nagging about buying Maya a bed, but Maya refused each time. Maya slept on the floor, with only a few blankets and pillows for her sleeping area. She always insisted that she was fine, but still he kept pressing her about it.

Maya was always on time for the lessons, and seemed to have complete control of her power, although she seemed to not feel any strong emotions, so it was hard to tell. But where she went before lessons and after dinner was a mystery to everyone except Professor X, who knew that she was taking classes in different subjects in her free time. If he hadn't known where she was going, then he would have been more worried.

As it was, some of the students kept asking her about where she went. Bobby Drake in particular seemed to make it the subject of every topic that came up when he talked to Maya. After being startled out of her reading for the fifth time in a row that evening, Maya calmly walked over to Bobby Drake, grabbed him, and held him up against the wall casually, lifting him up with the hand that held his neck in a grip that showed she meant business. The other X-Men just stared, speechless and too shocked to do anything—of course, there weren't any teachers in the room. She held him casually, but her voice and eyes told a different story. Her eyes were like two cold chips of amethyst, and when she spoke, her voice was like ice.

"I've told you 236 times, and I've counted, that I'm not going to tell you what I do during my free time, Robert Drake. That is my business and not yours. I do not like you, and trust me, you don't want to annoy me, you impetuous boy. If you ask me again, I will personally kill you, and trust me, I can kill you as easily as I can speak. Do we have an understanding?"

Although Bobby had kicked and flailed wildly at first, he had settled down to conserve oxygen. At the moment, his face was almost as blue as Mr. McCoy's. He nodded weakly, and Maya let him down.

"I'm glad that we could have this little chat, Bobby. It is good that we could come to an understanding."

As she walked away, an ice cube seemed to suddenly appear in her shirt, creating a dark stain as it melted along her back. Her eyes narrowed, Maya turned back in the direction of Bobby and lifted him up again. This time, she lifted him as high as she could reach, which was quite high, and, with only her eyes moving to show that she was doing something, created four sharp diamond points that she drove into his loose shirt sleeves and pant legs.

She finally turned and walked into her room, shutting the door firmly and locking it with an audible 'click'. It seemed to be the noise of the door locking that moved the

X-Men to action, as they had been all standing there, watching the scene with open eyes and mouths. Even the strongest of them tried to get Bobby out of the wall, but everyone failed. Eventually, Kurt had to teleport Bobby out of the spikes, and, incidentally, his clothes. Bobby reappeared with Kurt in the middle of the room, with Bobby in only his boxers, socks, and shoes. As Bobby skulked back to his room, he groaned, hearing the giggles, snorts, all out laughter, and comments that came from seeing him in his boxers. He had a feeling that it would be hard to live this down.

For the next few weeks, all was quiet. Maya was left alone, for the most part, and things went on as usual, but it was on a rainy day that Kurt noticed something strange.

He was relaxing in one of the recliners in the Sitting Room, much like the school's living room, where Maya had 'warned' Bobby a few weeks ago, and he was staring out the window, simply daydreaming. That was when he became aware of a figure moving on the backyard, which was usually deserted while it was raining. That window was the only window that faced the back. He squinted, trying to see who or what the moving figure was, but was rewarded only by a blob of purple through the dripping windows. Sighing, he slipped out of his chair and padded out of the front door, staying along the eaves as he walked outside to see who it was that was out there. He didn't like the rain, but he liked people sneaking into the mansion and graffiti-ing the walls even less.

He caught a glimpse of who it was in the yard and gasped softly before standing, transfixed, in his spot under the eaves, where the person couldn't see him. It was Maya, but she was nothing like the Maya that the X-men knew. She was dressed differently, for one thing. Maya mainly wore t-shirts and jeans, functional clothing that allowed her movement in case she needed to fight. But today, she was dressed in an unusual outfit: a soft lavender leotard with a gauzy skirt attached, white tights, and light purple ballet shoes made of satin with ribbons that wound around her legs. And she was--dancing.

Music came from a portable stereo, classical by the sound of it. The tune that was playing was beautiful, with a slightly melancholic undertone, but it was not what most teenagers listened to.

Maya's dancing was hard to describe. Her movements were full of passion, although graceful, as she smoothly slid from one move to another. But one thing stayed the same: her face was always turned upwards, the rain falling upon it. She was drenched, but seemed not to notice. Her face was a myriad of emotions, joy, pain, sorrow, passion, and many more.

Quietly, Kurt slipped back inside, shaking himself off and shaking his head as well. Maya was an enigma to everyone here, especially him. Just when you thought that you knew her game, she changed the rules. Shrugging, he headed back to his chair.

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Thank you everyone for the review that I have gotten. I'm telling you now, I don't respond personally to every review given, I give group thank yous like the one that you just received.

And yes, cheese is wonderful.

Ich mag Kaese! (shall be using the 'vowel, then e' form instead of umlauts since I don't have them on my computer)


	3. Chapter 3: Of Mishaps and Teardrops

Disclaimer: Okay, getting tired of this. NO, I do NOT own X-Men: Evo or any affiliated characters, blah blah blah, Maya is mine, do not take her, and no, I did not steal her from anyone. Mine and mine alone, got it? Good, glad we could get that over with so I can get on with the actual story. Oh, and this will be the last time I am saying this for my story. It distracts me from actually writing.

Yes, this may be overly dramatic, it is how I write, if you have a big problem with it, I'm not forcing you to read my story. I really do try to keep it slightly realistic, however, that can be hard to do for me sometimes.

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Once more, a few weeks passed without much changing. Maya slowly rose to be one of the top students in most classes, even Logan's. She was the only one who didn't complain about his harsh classes or training sessions, even when one could see that the bruises on her were as real as everyone else's.

Three things about her bothered the teachers, however: One, she still didn't fit in at the mansion, and they knew that the X-Men and students were friendly. Two, she always had dark circles under her eyes. It looked as though she never slept. And three, she was still skinnier than what was considered normal. She seemed to eat as much as the others, but she never gained any weight. If she did gain weight, it was in muscle, deceptively hidden among her frame.

One day, most of the X-men and students were in the sitting room again, the best place to go for information. Like always, Maya was reading, her velvet book cover snugly covering the book's title. Bobby, attempting to talk to her (and trying to get on her good side again) finally got frustrated. He headed over to the cluster of some other X-men by the door.

"I bet that you would kill your own sister," He muttered before turning to his friends.

By now, most of the students knew that her past had something to do with a sister. It was a low blow, but Bobby was angry. Truth me told, the rest of them were getting frustrated as well. They had tried to be nice, and she was just the same as she was when she got here.

He received a giggle from a few of the other students there.

"That wasn't nice, Bobby," Scott said, although there was a slight hint of humor in his voice. They all found it somewhat amusing that he would say something so radical, so rude, while the girl was in the room.

They need not have worried about that. Maya stood up and walked out of the room at her normal brisk pace, her book to her face as it always was. But as she walked out of the room, something small fell to the carpet. Scott bent down and picked it up, about to call her back so she could get it, when he examined what it was. His eyebrows rose in surprise and confusion as he balanced the small, tear-shaped diamond in his hand.

After Maya had calmed herself down, she asked Logan if he could watch over her in the Danger Room. She didn't really want anyone watching her, but you weren't allowed to use the danger room alone, and it was impossible to turn the danger room on without the access code.

After about a half-hour of watching over her in the Danger Room's one-person workout mode, fighting with a glint of savage joy in her eyes, he took out the newspaper that he had been reading and continued it. He didn't notice the slight film of milky white that started to cover her eyes.

But what happened next caught Logan's attention: a slight beeping noise signaling that the Danger Room had been entered without the control room's permission, and that only Professor Xavier could shut it down. Logan immediately started walking out of the room, walking faster as he called out, "Charles! We have a problem!" in his normally brusque tone.

A well-intentioned Scott had caused this. He opened the Danger Room door with one of his keys, which he had for when all of the adults were away, since he was leader if the adults left. He knew that the words had hurt her, although she didn't show it, and had felt increasingly bad. He deduced in his mind that perhaps she would be less angry (and less likely to kill him) if she was focusing her attention on fighting instead of being angry.

The door hissed shut, and he shouted, 'Hey, Maya!' to get her attention.

He got her attention, but that was not a good thing.

After clearing out all of the robots, she turned on him, the film over her eyes not seeming to hurt her vision in any way. Through the film, one could still see her violet irises, but just barely.

She attacked savagely, moving quickly and surely. Her fighting seemed almost like a dance, smooth, graceful poetry, but a deadly dance. She didn't slow down for anything, moving like lightening.

Scott tried to evade her without using his powers, but after receiving a particularly hard kick to his stomach, his survival instinct kicked in. He began to forget that he was fighting another student.

After that, Scott was fighting with only two things on his mind: winning and staying alive.

Finally, Maya stopped and stood, her eyes flickering between white-glazed and normal as she said,

"What's happ—"

That was when she was cut off by Cyclops, who, at that time, was on the floor, almost unconscious himself. Knowing that he was going down, he had decided to take the 'enemy' with him, and hit her with the largest blast that he could manage.

Maya was slammed against the wall on the other side of the room, and a sickening thud was heard as her head made contact with the metal wall. She slid down to the floor, eyes closed, as a thick trail of silver blood began to mix with her ebony hair. It was a beautiful, but heart-wrenching sight, like a burning painting.

That was the scene that met Professor X and everyone that followed him as he shut off the Danger Room and headed in there to retrieve his students.

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Note to everyone: Yes, I know, this should be where I end the chapter, but it's so much fun I'm going to continue it. Please continue reading.

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_She was peacefully sleeping, smiling as she dreamed away her worries of the day, when all of a sudden she woke up. She didn't know what had woken her up until she looked around the room and saw a figure as he plunged the incredibly sharp plastic dagger into Fey's heart. She knew that it was sharp because she could feel it herself. She threw something, she wasn't sure what, that had appeared in her hands. The man was startled, and then took off out of the open window before she could hit him again, but Maya knew who he was._

_She crawled as fast as she could over to her twin's side of the room, where the moonlight spilled from the window onto the small cellar's floor. She met her twin's eyes as they spoke to each other's minds._

_**We have to separate like she taught us.** Fey's mental voice was weaker than usual._

_**No! We can take you to a hospital! They can save you!** Maya's voice was frightened, more high-pitched than usual._

_**There is no time. Besides, they would never accept us there. Do it now, Maya. Save yourself. It is what I want.** _

_Sobbing, Maya complied, the bond that separated them three-quarters of the way cut off before she couldn't handle it any more. The sight of her sister's silver blood spilling from her chest was too much for her. With her powers, she had managed to make something to stem the bleeding, but she knew that it was only prolonging the inevitable for a short while._

_"You have the locket?" Fey's voice was soft, as musical as it always had been. They couldn't speak mentally anymore. Her skin was a translucent white in the moonlight, her silver hair shining as she unfurled her wings. They were remarkable and complex, like a monarch butterfly's except for the fact that her wings were silver instead of orange._

_"Yes," Maya responded just as softly, a tremble in her voice as she unfurled her wings as well. Her wings were like Fey's, except purple in color. She held the locket up from where it had been hanging on a silver chain around her neck. It was silver and heart-shaped, with an 'M' and 'F' engraved on the front._

_"I love you, Maya, and I always will," Fey said softly before her eyes fluttered closed and her grip on Maya's hand loosened._

_That was when it started. The pain. The awful, unbearable pain overloaded her senses. It felt like her body was being pierced with a thousand hot needles, and her head hurt worst of all. It felt like something had been ripped away from her, leaving her bloody, scarred, and too hurt to move. She heard a screaming in her ears for what seemed like an eternity and as she realized that it was her screaming she heard--_

She woke up, her vocal cords aching as she struggled to stop screaming. Judging from the pain in her throat, she had been screaming for a while. Her body convulsed in quick, painful little shakes, and a sob threatened to escape her before she realized that she was not alone.

Mr. McCoy, Professor Xavier, Logan, Kurt, Rogue, Scott, and Jean were all there, staring at her. Maya tried valiantly but ultimately failed to keep her blush from showing.

"What? Why are you all staring at me?" She asked brusquely, her voice rough and scratchy. Her body was still shaking in short, small bursts, and she flinched when Professor Xavier put his hand on her.

"Maya." His voice was gentle, but firm. "Do you have these dreams often?"

"I wouldn't know. After the first few times they happened, I realized that they only start after about 5 minutes of sleep. Based on that, I started sleeping the night in shifts. Of course, that was once I got my own room. Before, I just didn't sleep. I usually get about an hour or so--"

Her voice broke off as she started coughing, a deep, painful hacking sound that made her body shake more than it already was. Mr. McCoy placed a gentle, furry hand on her forehead before giving her a pill. She swallowed it quietly, and her convulsing subsided slightly, as well as her throat being soothed.

That was when she started to notice the painful feeling in her neck. The part of her neck that had faced the brunt of the impact was further down, just below where the hair ended on her neck. She realized, as she fingered it, that it could have been much worse. Luckily, her neck had been where it had started bleeding, but her head was what had gotten hit the hardest. If her neck had been hit any harder, she could have been paralyzed, or dead.

"Some of us came down to see if we could help you when Mr. McCoy informed us of this. Don't worry, that was only around 10 minutes ago. If you need anything, just ask. You'll be able to get up in a week or so, but don't push it. Even if you didn't have any brain damage, you'll still be dizzy, and you did lose a fair amount of blood. We'll leave Doctor McCoy to run some tests on you now." With that, Professor Xavier wheeled out of the room, quickly followed by everyone else.

It was fairly quiet as Mr. McCoy took her blood and vital signs. When he went into the testing area, he pretended that it was soundproof and tried to block out the stifled sobs that he could hear from the infirmary.


	4. Chapter 4: Of Motivation and Moonlight

Yes, I'm still alive. My muse has been quite temperamental as of late, so I'm going to force it to get its head together. Not always the best of ideas, so I apologize in advance if this chapter is crappier than the others. But--Good news! School's almost out where I live, so I'll be free to write more. Besides, summer helps my muse recover from exams.

Oh, and note: I'm just going to give Kurt his accent phonetically now, since I don't want to mess anyone up, especially myself.

Anyhow, on with the story!!

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Chapter 4: Of Masquerades and Midnight Charades

A few days after Maya woke up, she received a private visit from Scott. For a while, he shifted his weight awkwardly as she simply stared. Finally, he blurted out,

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come into apologize right then. And I'm sorry about what Bobby said, too. But who could blame him? I mean, it's been over a month and you still haven't gotten off your high horse to become friends with the common people!"

He had only come to apologize, but he ended up letting out his feelings. After he spoke, he began to consider the stupidity of his actions. That was when Maya laughed. Her laugh would have been a normal, pretty laugh, were it not for the fact that it was filled with a bitter feeling.

"You think I'm on a high horse? I don't consider myself any better than you are--you or anyone else. I just don't want any friends. I don't need friends, and frankly, friends are nuisances, distractions. It has nothing to do with me thinking of myself as better than anyone. And I'm sorry too. You caught me at a bad time. Just one thing, please--If my eyes ever turn completely white, just have someone shoot me down. It would be for the best."

Scott nodded, and then left quickly, very uncomfortable with all of that, and slightly more confused about who Maya really was.

A few hours after Scott left, Maya shakily stood up, hand gripping the bed's headboard for support. It was a few days before she was supposed to get up, considering that she had been hit pretty hard, along with her other injuries. They weren't particularly serious, but she was supposed to rest and get better.

Slowly, she walked along the hallway and onto the upper level. She made her way up the main staircase before her legs gave out. Fortunately, she was off to the side, so no one could see her or step on her.

A few minutes later, Kurt came bounding up the stairs, his image inducer turned off for the time being. That was when he noticed Maya, who was attempting to get up, and quite obviously failing.

"Maya, vhat is wrong? Vhy are you up already?"

"I felt like getting up. I'll be perfectly fine. Just leave me alone." Maya's answers were short and curt, as usual.

"Vhere are you going?" There was more than conversational interest here, although Kurt hid it.

"I'm just going to my room. Now will you leave me alone?"

That was when Kurt picked her up and, while carrying her, teleported to her room.

And that was when Maya slapped him.

"Vhat?" The slightly confused elf asked.

"I told you to leave me alone. I could have made it on my own!" Maya said. "Now, please put me down!"

Kurt put her down, still supporting her as he led her to a chair. "Look at you! You can barely walk—how could you have made it to your room on your own?"

"I would have made it somehow."Maya's voice was now flat as she answered defensively.

"If you say so. Just please don't slap me again." Kurt turned to leave.

"Kurt?" Maya's voice came to him, almost timid sounding.

"Vhat now?" He asked, now exasperated.

"Thank you."

Kurt left the room, shaking his head as he did so. He would never, ever, understand girls, especially not Maya.

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Nope, not going to end now. It's just not long enough. As for the following section, I give all credit of the idea of Roberto's sickness and the Night Club to Ayaia of the Moon, who, I might add, is an extremely talented fanfiction writer. Many thanks to her fanfiction, which gave me some ideas for this next part.

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Things went relatively smoothly for a while. True, Maya did pin Bobby to the wall and force him to watch Barney until someone found him, but that was soon forgotten by most of them.

One night, a figure crept out of the room, walking down the hall briskly. It was in the middle of the night, and it was mostly still.

That was, until Roberto stepped out of the shadows. "Hello Maya. Are you all right? You seem a bit pale."

Maya nodded tersely and managed to say, "I'm fine," before running into the bathroom and heaving audibly.

"That doesn't sound too fine to me. Are you bulimic or something?" He tried to ask that question quickly, and turned his eyes down as Maya looked at him.

"Thank you for your concern, but no, I'm not bulimic. I have lots of memories that I try to forget, and some of them aren't very pleasant. Need I say more?"

Roberto quietly said "No," as Maya washed out her mouth and stepped out of the bathroom, albeit a bit unsteadily. Suddenly, Roberto pushed Maya out of the way and went into the bathroom himself, repeating her actions.

"I'm sorry if I caused you to be sick," Maya said, looking slightly anxious.

"No worries," Roberto said as he washed out his mouth as well. "It's just that--my powers, they're connected to the sun, right? At night, there isn't too much sun, and around the middle of the night, sometimes I get sick. Not all the time, but sometimes. Kind of like how pregnant women get sickness in the morning."

"I see. That makes sense." Maya turned to go back to her room.

"Maya, if you aren't going to sleep, you might want to join the Night Club."

Maya turned back to him, asking, "What do you mean? You aren't trying anything funny, are you?" Her tone was threatening enough, but her voice was lined with tiredness and in the moonlight, the circles beneath her eyes were even clearer than usual.

"No joke, I promise. Just follow me." Roberto led Maya down the stairs and towards the kitchen. Opening the kitchen door, he announced dramatically,

"And I present to you--the Night Club!!"

The opened door revealed a crew of the X-Men and some of the New Recruits sitting in a circle of chairs, talking and laughing, although quietly. They grew silent, however, when Maya entered the room.

"It's okay, guys. She's like us too." Roberto's words seemed to make them relax slightly, and they started saying their names and why they couldn't sleep, almost like an alcoholics meeting.

"I'm Kurt. I'm here because sometimes I have nightmares about the dimension that I teleport to."

"I'm Jamie. I'm here because I can have two of me sleeping while I'm down here, so I needed something to do."

"Ah'm Rogue, and Ah'm here because sometahmes I have residual nahtmares or suppressed memories from people Ah've absorbed."

"I'm Scott, and I'm here because I get the power of my beams from the sun. I'm not as bad as Roberto, there, but I still don't like the night. Besides, I have to keep an eye on all of you."

"I'm Roberto, and you already know that since my powers come from the sun, I don't like the night, or the dark. Besides, I can get all of the energy of sleep from the sun in a few minutes, if it's sunny."

Then, they all turned and looked at her expectantly.

"I'm Maya, and I'm here because I can't sleep. I have some bad memories that I try not to remember, but they come back at night as nightmares."

With that, Jamie was next to her, asking exactly what her powers were. He wanted a full and complete explanation, all the while explaining that he could understand because he could read more than one book at once so he was smarter than a lot of people. Amazingly enough, he said all of this in one breath.

"I can summon and control crystals, and--I'm not too sure about all of the technicalities."

Jamie's eyes brightened. "Cool! Does that mean you can create jewels?"

Maya laughed, for the first time not sounding bitter. "It's not that hard, but creating too much of them at once can take a lot out of me. Here," She said the 'here' as she created a figurine of Jamie's head, making the colors out of gems. When she was done, she handed it to him. It was a similar likeness, and Jamie hugged her.

"Thanks! I can't believe you made this for me! This is probably worth a lot but I really like it so I won't sell it!"

The hug put Maya off guard, and some of the others noticed, laughing at the awestruck expression on her face. Eventually, she formed her mask of indifference again, explaining to Jamie,

"It's not that cool of a power. Some parts aren't very fun, trust me." Her eyes looked slightly sad as she said that.

But, for the first time in a while, Maya opened up to the other students, albeit only slightly. But it was a start. They saw it as she started to chuckle at their jokes, or help wake one of them up from a nightmare they were having, but they didn't really notice because it happened so gradually.

Professor Xavier saw it, and noticed it. He smiled as, right before he went to sleep, he looked in on the kitchen with his powers and saw a group of teens sitting around in a circle, all of them laughing.

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Yay!! I think that I actually made a not-so-crappy forced Muse chapter. I'm hoping that my character isn't turning into a Mary-Sue. As I said, I'm hoping for a few more reviews, please don't kill me for delaying finishing off this chapter for so long, and you should look at Ayaia of the Moon's work. It's really good, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten my inspiration for this part from it!


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